Post navigation

Find the “Good Old Days”

I have a ZILLION friends that followed The Office, essentially, from day one. (That’s a lie. I do not, in fact, have a zillion friends period.)

I was not one of those people. Occasionally I would catch an episode here or there and I really enjoyed it. There is no denying that it was a hilarious show. The actors were great, it was easy to follow and it was HIGHLY relatable. (Apparently, even for those of us who had not yet entered Officeland in our own lives!).

As fate would have it, I happened to catch the series finale and it truly made me wish that I HAD been one of those followers. The last five minutes (or fewer) offered more sage life-advice than I have heard in a very long time.

If any of your Facebook friends were watching, I guarantee that you have already seen this as someone’s status, but you are about to see it again.

In the last few moments of the show, various characters were reflecting on life, friends, The Office… and one quote was particularly memorable. It was Andy who had the money line… “I wish there was a way to know that you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”

Brilliant.

Now, granted, The Office isn’t a show that I would (generally) advise you to seek many tips for living your life, but this one, I think can apply to just about anyone, anywhere. Especially yours truly.

Ironically, hearing that made me want to do just that. It made me what to find the good old days WHILE they were happening. And let me tell you, there isn’t a more perfect time that this quote could have crossed my radar.

The day the Brittany Clock struck 22 years (who comes up with these things?), I was suddenly a little blue. I couldn’t believe that I was “already” twenty-two years old. Somehow, I had skimmed right past childhood, the teenage years, college…it was over and I was officially “old” (the kind of old that only twenty-two-year-olds understand. The kind of “old” that anyone over the age of 45 would roll their eyes at, but that when you’re on the cusp of adulthood, feels so very, very real). I missed two years and two decades of the “good old days.”

Is that entirely true? Of course not. I was a kid, I was a teenager, I had a great time in high school. College was…well, an experience. But I did miss a lot. I spent a lot of time living in conditionals—doing the things that I thought I “should” do. I lived according to an extremely arbitrary set of standards that I set up for myself and in doing so, missed a lot of things. It was only when something wonderful was about to end that I ever appreciated what I had. It wasn’t until the last 2 weeks of high school that I realized how much fun being in high school really was.

There are so many things that drive our decisions– money, dreams, precedents, and sometimes, necessity. But I think that every once in a while, we lose sight of opportunities that we may stumble across that allow us to push some of those motives to the sidelines. Even if just for a short time. Of course, you don’t want to lose sight of your dreams, you don’t want to fall off of any paths, but I do believe that you want to be following them for the right reasons.

In the days before The Office finale premiered, I made a promise to myself. I promised that I would stop losing track of the present. It was time to start identifying the good old days WHILE they were happening. (If ever, this would be the time for a “no regrets” comment, but that is just too cliché.)

And then, Andy said it all.

So here’s a challenge for you— can you find a way to identify YOUR “good old days” before they’re “good old days”?? And what exactly IS a good old day.

To me, I think it’s extremely personal, but one thing I know for sure, is that my friends and family are incredibly important to me and that most of the best days that I can quickly recall revolve around them.

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to watch one of my very best friends graduate from college. It was a day that I will not soon forget, but it took some serious maneuvering to participate in. For a brief time, it looked like my job was going to require me to be away that weekend and I was heartbroken. Fortunately, I was able to rearrange and to share in the memories. The pictures from that day make me so happy, they nearly bring tears to my eyes. And that was the perfect example of a day that I took the time to appreciate, right then and there, just how special it was. And from this point forward, I hope that I can do that with each and every day, and I hope that you will too.

Can we make ourselves a promise? Let’s make the summer of 2013 the summer where we take a minute each and every day to realize what made it a “good old day?”

Let’s talk again tomorrow. I know what you’re thinking, and no really this time. Maybe with any luck, I’ll land myself at a gym at some point in the day. 😛